Sister indicted in '94 cold case

Perjury charges filed for allegedly lying in May to grand jury about killing

Updated 10:55 pm, Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Troy police investigate the murder scene on Prout Street in Troy on March 24, 1994, where Rosemary Ellsworth Crosier was found beaten inside a home for the disabled where she worked as a counselor. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union archive)

Pallbearers carry the casket of Rosemary Ellsworth Crosier following funeral service at at Christ Church United Methodist in Troy on March 29, 1994. Crosier was found beaten inside a home for the disabled where she worked as a counselor. (Paul D. Kniskern / Times Union archive)

Pallbearers carry the casket of Rosemary Ellsworth Crosier...

George Mott (Troy Police Department)

George Mott (Troy Police Department)

Rosemary Ellsworth Crosier's body is removed from the murder scene on Prout Street in Troy on March 24, 1994. Crosier was found beaten inside a home for the disabled where she worked as a counselor. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union archive)

Rosemary Ellsworth Crosier's body is removed from the murder scene...

Scott Chaplin (Troy Police Department photos)

Scott Chaplin (Troy Police Department photos)

Scott Chaplin, 34, stands before Judge Andrew Ceresia in the Rensselaer County Courthouse in Troy, N.Y. June 7, 2011, accused in the alleged murder of Rosemary Crosier in 1994. He is represented by attorney F. Stanton Ackerman. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union)

Scott Chaplin, 34, stands before Judge Andrew Ceresia in the...

Scott Chaplin, 34, stands before Judge Andrew Ceresia in the Rensselaer County Courthouse in Troy, N.Y. June 7, 2011, accused in the alleged murder of Rosemary Crosier in 1994. He is represented by attorney F. Stanton Ackerman. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union)

Scott Chaplin, 34, stands before Judge Andrew Ceresia in the...

Attorney Robert Becher will act as special prosecutor in the Rosemary Crosier murder case that has been presented in Judge Andrew Ceresia's court in the Rensselaer County Courthouse in Troy, N.Y. June 7, 2011. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union)

Attorney Robert Becher will act as special prosecutor in the...

Police keep watch Tuesday during the arraignment of Scott Chaplin and George Mott III before Judge Andrew Ceresia in Rensselaer County Court in Troy. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union)

TROY — The sister of one of the men accused of carrying out the 1994 killing of Rosemary Crosier in a Troy group home was indicted Tuesday on perjury charges for lying to a grand jury examining the murder in May.

Information contained in the indictment reveals that a third person may have been present when the murder took place and that Crosier, 47, was killed with a tire iron taken from the trunk of a borrowed Yugo.

The indictment alleges that Denice Carbonneau, 44, of Troy lied to the grand jury 10 times as she was questioned May 25 about the killing. She is accused of denying that she heard her brother, George Mott III, 42, and others make incriminating statements that were read to her during the grand jury session by Special Prosecutor Robert Becher.

The indictment alleges Carbonneau denied overhearing her brother say "he was with two other guys who killed somebody" and "he was there when the Crosier woman was murdered."

With her relatives crying in the courtroom, Carbonneau was arraigned on 10 counts of first-degree perjury, a felony. Judge Andrew Ceresia, noting that the woman had no criminal past, allowed her to be released and ordered her to check in with probation three times a week.

Carbonneau was emotional during the proceeding and cried as she pleaded not guilty.

Mott faces a charge of second-degree murder for the robbery and killing of Crosier on March 23, 1994. She was killed while she worked the overnight shift as a counselor at the Association for Retarded Persons Care group home on Prout Avenue. Co-defendant Scott Chaplin, 34, faces the same charges. Both are in jail without bail pending trials.

The indictment also alleges Carbonneau denied hearing her brother say "he went to where the Crosier woman was killed with Scott Chaplin and Jeff Morgan."

Morgan is Chaplin's brother and has not been charged. A grand jury is still investigating the case.

Becher said the grand jury is empaneled until the end of the year but has not heard enough evidence to indict Morgan or anyone else.

"It is important to have enough evidence to support a conviction and it is just not quite there regarding Mr. Morgan," Becher said.

Carbonneau also allegedly denied Mott said they were at a party and that Chaplin and Morgan offered him $100 if he would take them to Crosier's workplace.

Chaplin was in court last week when he was offered a plea deal that would require him to cooperate against accomplices.

Becher did not specify the sentence he was willing to offer in return for Chaplin's guilty plea and help.